Welch's 63 keeps No. 1 Oklahoma at top of the leaderboard in NCAA Championship at Grayhawk

    Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have been on a collision course throughout the wraparound 2021-2022 college golf season.

   The Big 12 champion Sooners are No. 1 in the latest Golfstat rankings, the Big 12 runnerup Cowboys are No. 2. Each claimed an NCAA regional team crown, Oklahoma winning the Norman Regional on its home course, the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club, Oklahoma State taking the Columbus Regional on the challenging Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University Golf Club.

   They will enter the final round of stroke play in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. the same way, 1-2, with the Sooners holding a four-shot lead over the Cowboys following the completion of Round 3 Sunday in the desert.

   Oklahoma, getting a spectacular 7-under-par 63 over the 7,289-yard, par-70 Grayhawk layout from Patrick Welch, a senior from Aliso Viejo, Calif. and No. 68 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), recorded a solid 3-under 277 Sunday that left the Sooners with a 1-under 839 total.

   Oklahoma State, behind a 6-under 65 from Eugenio Chacarra, a senior from Spain and No. 4 in the WAGR, posted its second straight 3-under 277, leaving the Cowboys four shots behind their cross-state rivals with a 3-over 843 total.

   By the end of the day Sunday, it was a very chalky affair with the top seven teams in the Golfstat rankings occupying the top seven spots in the team standings, not quite in order, but close. It’s not a real shocker because those seven teams have seemed destined to get into the match-play bracket all season.

   The top eight teams – the field was cut to 15 teams at the end of Sunday’s third round – following a Memorial Day final round will advance to match play beginning with the quarterfinals Tuesday morning. Some epic matches would seem to be in the offing, which The Golf Channel, which begins its coverage with Monday’s final round of stroke play, during which an individual champion will be crowned, was sort of counting on.

   No. 3 Vanderbilt, the Southeastern Conference champion, was two shots behind Oklahoma State in third place as the Commodores carded a solid 1-over 281 that left them with a 6-over 847 total.

   Vanderbilt’s precocious freshman, Gordon Sargent of Birmingham, Ala. and No. 14 in the WAGR, took over the lead in the individual standings as he registered a second straight 2-under 68 that gave him a 4-under 206 total.

   No. 5 North Carolina, out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, was four shots behind Vanderbilt in fourth place with a 9-over 849 total after the Tar Heels matched par with a 280.

   Defending national champion Pepperdine, the West Coast Conference champion, was four shots behind North Carolina with a 13-over 853 total. The No. 6 Waves matched the low team score of the day with a 3-under 277 total.

   No. 4 Arizona State, out of the Pac-12, was the fourth team to post a 3-under 277 in Sunday’s third round as the Sun Devils, playing just a few miles from their campus, were in sixth place, six shots behind Pepperdine with a 19-over 859 total.

   A third Big-12 entry, No. 7 Texas, was a shot behind Arizona State in seventh place with a 20-over 860 total. The Longhorns also bettered par as a team Sunday with a 2-under 278.

   If you don’t think any one of Pepperdine, Arizona State or Texas is capable of running the table in match play if they can get in, you haven’t been paying attention.

   Vanderbilt’s SEC rival, No. 14 Arkansas, registered its second straight 6-over 286 that left the Razorbacks clinging to eighth place – again, the top eight following Monday’s final round of stroke play make the match-play field – with a 26-over 866 total, six shots behind Texas.

   Arkansas has SEC rival Auburn, ranked 17^th, and No. 8 Texas Tech, yet another Big 12 entry, lurking three shots behind it in a tie for ninth place at 29-over 869. The Tigers carded an 18-over 288 in Sunday’s third round and the Red Raiders checked in with a 15-over 285.

   Despite Welch’s fireworks, Chris Gotterup, a redshirt senior from Little Silver, N.J. and No. 27 in the WAGR, sits the highest on the individual leaderboard for Oklahoma. Gotterup carded a 2-under 68 in Sunday’s third round and was just a shot behind Vanderbilt’s Sargent, the individual leader, in second place with a 3-under 207 total.

   The round of the week, however, belonged to Welch as he made seven birdies, including three straight at the eighth, ninth and 10^th holes, and had nary a bogey on his scorecard in his scintillating 63. That left him alone in fourth place in the individual standings at 1-under 209.

   Logan McAlister, a senior from Oklahoma City, Okla. and No. 11 in the WAGR, and Drew Goodman, a freshman home boy from Norman, Okla., were in the group tied for 17^th place at 4-over 214, although both struggled a little, each posting a 4-over 74.

   Oklahoma head coach Ryan Hybl went to his bench for the fifth spot in his lineup and Stephen Campbell Jr., a redshirt freshman from Richmond, Texas, responded with a solid 2-over 72.

   Oklahoma State’s Eugenio Chacarra, a senior from Spain, and No. 4 in the WAGR, led the way for the Cowboys as he fired a sparkling 5-under 65 that left him in third place in the individual standings, a shot behind Gotterup at 2-under 208.

   North Carolina teammates David Ford, a freshman from Peachtree Corners, Ga. and No. 38 in the WAGR, and Ryan Burnett, a senior from Lafayette, Calif., were two of the four players tied for fifth place at even-par 210. Ford recorded a 1-under 69 while Burnett matched par with a 70 in Sunday’s third round.

   Rounding out the foursome at even-par were Texas senior Parker Coody, one of the Longhorns’ twin grandsons of 1971 Masters champion Charlie Coody from Plano, Texas, and Arkansas’ Mateo Fernandez De Oliveira, a junior from Argentina and No. 50 in the WAGR, both of whom registered a 2-under 68 Sunday.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the individual standings were Arizona State’s Cameron Sisk, a senior from San Diego and No. 40 in the WAGR, and Pepperdine’s William Mouw, a junior from Chino, Calif. and No. 70 in the WAGR, both of whom landed on 1-over 211.

   Sisk carded a 2-under 68 while Mouw matched par with a 70.

   Auburn sophomore Carson Bacha, the 2019 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Central York, continued his strong play as the Tigers contend for a spot in the match-play bracket. Bacha posted a 1-over 71 that left him in the group tied for 34^th place at 7-over 217.

   Mississippi graduate student Evan Brown, who starred scholastically at Kennett and transferred to Ole Miss after a solid career at Loyola of Maryland, carded a 2-over 72 that left him in the group tied for 68^th place with a 12-over 222 total.

   Brown helped the No. 23 Rebels, out of the SEC, survive the team cut as they registered a 293 to share 14^th place with ACC power Georgia Tech at 37-over 877.

   Liberty junior Austin Barbin of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md., added a 77 to the 82 he carded in Saturday’s second round after replacing older brother Zach, a senior, in the Flames’ lineup. Austin Barbin was the 2019 Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship winner and transferred to Liberty after two seasons at Maryland.

   No. 38 Liberty, out of the ASUN, failed to survive the cut to the low 15 teams for Monday’s final round as the Flames carded a 303 and were in 26^th place in the 30-team field with a 58-over 808 total.